The present invention relates generally to information exchange, and more particularly to information exchange using DTMF signaling over telephone communication channels.
In real life, people exchange numbers and information all the time. Typically such information exchange is performed verbally or using paper documents. With the advent of computer systems and digital data communications technology, such information is now commonly exchanged over various computer networks such as the Internet using various protocols and communication applications. E-mail is perhaps the most prevalent form of information exchange today.
Using telephone communications technology, people exchange information using sending apparatus and receiving apparatus, however, such exchange is usually limited to verbal information exchange. As one example, one individual may provide a phone number or address information to a second individual using a telephone. The second individual must write down the information, which may not be convenient, or commit it to memory for writing down at a later time. For example, the second user may be using a cell phone and not have the ability to immediately write the information down. In the case of a programmable cell phone, the second user may immediately manually program a phone number into the cell phone, however this tends to disrupt the conversation with the first user. Additionally, other information such as address information is not generally the type of information for which a cell phone is designed to conveniently store.
The number system is widely used throughout the world in telephone systems because of its simplicity and the deployed apparatus are easy to use. Dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signaling is a signaling scheme used in telephone systems to transmit the characters 0-9, and the * and # characters found on standard telephone keypads, and is primarily used to xe2x80x9cdialxe2x80x9d telephone numbers, i.e., direct calls to an appropriate receiving apparatus. DTMF is a technique that converts numbers (and select characters) to a particular frequency set, which can be converted back to the particular number. Yet, numbers are not electronically exchanged through the voice band even though sending and receiving apparatus are capable of receiving numbers using DTMF signaling in parallel to voice band while a voice conversation session is active.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems, methods and protocols for exchanging information between sending and receiving apparatus using DTMF signaling.
The present invention provides systems and methods for exchanging numbers and characters between sending apparatus and receiving apparatus using generic protocols that can be expanded to various applications.
Systems, methods, protocols and apparatus for information exchange and synchronization using DTMF signaling over telephone communication channels are provided. Information is packetized and converted from one format, e.g., ASCII formatted data, to another format, e.g., BCD formatted data. The information is wrapped in one or more packets, each packet including one or more headers, such as a Name and Length field that identify the information being exchanged and the amount of data included in the packet payload/value field. The data in the packets are converted from BCD to DTMF signals and are transmitted over a telephone communication line to a receiving apparatus. The receiving apparatus converts the DTMF signals back to BCD formatted data and processes the packets to obtain the information contained therein.
According to one aspect of the present invention a method is provided for communicating alphanumeric data between two communication devices over a telephone communication channel, the alphanumeric data including a plurality of alphanumeric characters. The method typically includes converting the alphanumeric data to data having a first data format, wherein each converted character comprises a first plurality of characters in the first data format, converting the data having the first data format to data having a second data format, wherein each converted character comprises a plurality of numbers in the second data format, and communicating the data in the second data format from a first communication device to a second communication device over the telephone communication channel using DTMF signaling
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for communicating alphanumeric data between two communication devices over a telephone communication channel, the alphanumeric data including a plurality of alphanumeric characters. The method typically includes receiving data representing the alphanumeric data, said received data having a first data format, wherein each alphanumeric character is represented by a first plurality of characters in the first data format, converting the data having the first data format to BCD decimal formatted data, wherein each alphanumeric character is represented by three numerical characters in the BCD format, and communicating the data in the BCD format from the first communication device to a second communication device over the telephone communication channel using DTMF signaling.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a communication apparatus is provided for sending and receiving data over a telephone communication channel using DTMF signaling. The apparatus typically includes a telephone interface module configured to send and receive frequency signals over a telephone communication channel, a DTMF coding and decoding module configured to convert received DTMF signals to data packets having a first protocol format and to convert data packets having the first protocol format to DTMF signals, and a packet processing module configured to convert data received from a user input device to data packets having the first protocol format and to process data packets in the first protocol format received from the DTMF module.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, a communication system is provided that typically includes a configuration server coupled to a telephone communication network, and a communication device having a telephone communication interface for coupling to the telephone communication network, each of said communication device and configuration server including a DTMF coding and decoding module configured to convert received DTMF signals to data packets having a first protocol format and to convert data packets having the first protocol format to DTMF signals. In operation, the communication device automatically establishes a communication session with the configuration server when the telephone interface is connected with the telephone communication network, wherein the configuration server sends one or more packets of configuration information having the first protocol format to the communication device in the form of DTMF signals, and wherein the communication device converts the received DTMF signals to said one or more packets of configuration information having the first protocol format.
According to yet a further aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for automatically configuring a communication device having a telephone communication interface for coupling to a telephone communication network. The method typically includes automatically establishing a communication session with a configuration server over the telephone communication network when the telephone communication interface is coupled to the telephone communication network, and receiving one or more configuration packets from the configuration server, each configuration packet including configuration information, wherein the received configuration packets are in the form of DTMF signals. The method also typically includes converting the DTMF signals to one or more packets having a first protocol format, and processing the one or more configuration packets having the first protocol format to obtain the configuration information.
Reference to the remaining portions of the specification, including the drawings claims and Appendices, will realize other features and advantages of the present invention. Further features and advantages of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention, are described in detail below with respect to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements.